JERUSALEM, Israel -- In a rare admission, Lebanese Hezbollah terror leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah announced to the world that his group sent an Iranian-made drone to spy on Israel last weekend.

"The drone flew over sensitive installations inside southern 'Palestine' and hovered over many important locations. It managed to arrive in an area close to the Dimona [Nuclear] Plant," Nasrallah said Thursday.

The Israeli air force shot down the drone on Saturday over the Negev desert. They said it been launched from Lebanon, flew over the Mediterranean Sea, and crossed over into Israel from Gaza.

Earlier during a tour of Israel's southern border, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is determined to defend its land, air, and sea borders, just as it "foiled Hezbollah's attempt to send a UAV into Israel."

Senior Israeli military officials called the UAV's incursion a "failed mission" and said it couldn't film anything more than what's already on Google Earth.

Visiting U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., told CBN News his American sources said Israel had been monitoring the drone all along.

"It seemed to be clearly an effort by Iranians to test Israeli Air Defenses," Franks said. "And if that is indeed the case, the Israelis obliged the Iranians clear and unambiguous test result and blew the drone to vapor."

One Israeli expert said the flight of the drone did not represent a ground-breaking achievement for Hezbollah and was likely an attempt to divert attention onto Israel instead of the bad press Hezbollah is receiving for fighting in Syria.

But Franks said it would have been a different equation if the drone had been armed.

"It's just a reminder how Israel faces great danger from her neighbors every day that they live," Franks warned.